


A Blue Day in Babysitting

by youngerdrgrey



Category: Queen Sugar (TV)
Genre: Gen, Season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2019-01-09 20:32:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12283890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngerdrgrey/pseuds/youngerdrgrey
Summary: Aunt Charley's a good babysitter, when she's not trying to distract Blue from his homework.prompt:"When was the last time we had a real conversation?"





	A Blue Day in Babysitting

.

Charley’s dress snags on the chair when she goes to slide into it. Anybody else would glance over, maybe check on whether or not she’s going to fall out of her chair, but Blue’s got bigger things to worry about than whether or not his aunt’s able to sit at the table properly. He has a whole story to write, and he has to draw the pictures to go with it, and Charley’s been told three times over that all she has to do tonight is make sure he finishes them. That doesn’t mean she can’t keep him company though.

“No distractions,” he says.

“I can’t sit here?”

“I guess,” he says, “But no talking.”

“When was the last time we had a real conversation?” she asks, but he glares instead of answering, so she sighs. “Fine. No talking.” It’ll be like her nights with Micah then, the both of them working and nobody talking about the real issues bubbling underneath.

Blue nods, but he sighs when he does it like his work’s sucking the life out of him. “I’m sorry. I have to focus. I haven’t even started my story yet, Auntie Charley.” He settles down his brown crayon in exchange for his black one. “First, I have to draw the whole house, and there are  _so many_  rooms in here.” He points to each of them. “Auntie Vi’s room, and your room, and my room, and the laundry room too.”

She doesn’t technically have a room in Violet’s house anymore. She has the barracks now, not that Blue seems to care about that distinction. “You don’t have to draw them all, do you?“

“We’re supposed to draw all the rooms in the house. I could’ve drawn Papa’s house, but I know this one better. I spent two whole years here.” His eyes go wide for emphasis, and she nods along like that’s worth the extra work he’s putting in.

It’s not like his new teacher would know if he didn’t draw every room in the house. No one fact checks the busy work they give first graders. Though, Charley could definitely question his response to the busy work. Blue’s lived with Ralph Angel in what used to be Ernest’s place for months now. He hasn’t done more than a sleepover night at Vi’s, but he draws Vi’s without questioning it. 

Charley picks up a crayon herself. He watches her, so she doesn’t color on anything yet. “Do you miss living here, Blue?”

He shrugs. “Sometimes.” His voice comes out soft though, like he’s not sure if he can say exactly what he feels. He twists the crayon in his hand.

“It’s okay if you do. I miss my old house.”

“You do?” He doesn’t seem sure of it until she nods. Even then, he asks her, “What was it like?”

Like a dream made real. Or an omen. Those who live in glass houses and all that. “Well… my house had a lot of rooms too. We had my room, and Micah’s room, my office, and a little gym.”

His eyes bug again. “Inside the house?”

She nods. “Yup, inside the house. Davis —“ her breath only hitches a little “— he wanted to work out at home too. So we had a nice little gym in the house too. But that’s not why I miss it. Can you guess why I do?”

He taps the crayon on the table. “Because it was in California?” She shakes her head. “Um, because it was bigger than this one?” She shakes her head again. “I don’t know. Because it was yours?”

“It was ours,” she corrects. They even had the pictures on the walls to prove it. Magazine covers and family photoshoots and every single one of Micah’s class pictures. “Mine, and Micah’s, and Davis’ too.” The perfect house for their family. “When we were there, nothing bad could get to us. It was safe. It was home.”

Blue drops his eyes back to his picture. “I get that.” He nods. “I have two homes now. I don’t want to forget this one just because we have Papa’s house now. Plus….” He shakes his head instead of finishing the sentence. “Never mind.”

“Hey, wait, plus what?”

He swallows hard. "Mommy doesn’t have a room at Papa’s. She sleeps in Pop’s room sometimes, but sometimes, I don’t know where she is. I like….” He pushes on the crayon so hard it starts to crack. “I like when Mommy’s there. Then Papa’s house is like only our house. It’s the perfect size too. But if Mommy doesn’t stay, then it’ll be just like it was before. And then Pop is gonna go away again and—“

“Hey.” Charley reaches out to steady him. She grabs his hand and saves both their crayons from breaking entirely. “Your dad’s not going anywhere.”

“But—“

“But what?”

He shakes his head, and there’s tears in his eyes before either of them know what to do with them. “But he was gone for so long before. And now Papa’s gone. And Micah’s papa’s gone. I don’t want everybody to go away again. I like it how it is now. Mommy’s there in the mornings. And you live here. I like it like this.”

Charley half-slips out of her seat to get to Blue. “I promise you, Blue, nobody is going anywhere. Not your dad, not your mom—”

He buries his head into her chest. Practically headbutts her just to ask, “Not you either, right?”

“Right.” She squeezes him close. “Not me either.“ He holds her as tight as he can, and she gets a hand free enough to close his workbook. He can finish it in the morning.

.

.


End file.
